"True, God made everything beautiful in itself and it its time - but He's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether He's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it - eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift."
~ quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes ~

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Sad...sad...sad... our computer has some problem lately. Last Friday I went to the aquarium with KK, just as I promised, and I took lots of photos. Cute ones. I also took a lot of my cooking photos. Great photos of mountain of fresh red strawberries when I made strawberry compote for my home-made yogurt. But, alas, all gone now.... I have no idea what happens but some how all the photos dissapeared from my computer. Funny thing is, after I finished downloading, I delete some photos that are not to my satisfaction. Now, those photo are still in my "Recycle Bin" but the one I kept in my file are all missing!

If any of you know how I can retrieve them back... please, let me know!!!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

My son loves his dentist. He loves it so much that he kept asking me when is his next dentist appointment. My son does has a great teeth. When I was pregnant with him I drink milk non stop even though I don't like to drink milk actually. When he was a baby, sometimes in the middle of the night he wants to drink milk and I let him. Actually this is bad for his teeth but maybe because his teeth are so strong, he did not get any cavities. Even his dentist was amaze that after for so long he always drink milk at bedtime there is not a single cavity. His dentist also said that KK has a perfect over bite. I am glad that he has such a great teeth after I have to force myself drinking milk for over a year just so that he can have strong teeth! I did the same with La La too off course.

So since he never had any cavity, he never knew any dental pain, well except when he lost his 2 front teeth, but even then it was just a small pain.

But beside never having any dental pain, there is another good reason why he loves his dentist visit. It's because I found this great pediatrician dentist office that looks like children play area/arcade.

You can see it your self! This place has 3 TV games, then 2 arcade games, then many toys to play with, many books to read, a crawl space with funny mirrors, and a room full of costumes for the children to play dress up! There is even a TV on top of each dentist chair with headphone as well and usually they let Kai Kai pick a children channel first or for older kids they just gave them the remote so they can switch the channel while having their teeth cleaned.

And while the children play, there is also a sitting room equipped with TVs and headphones to hear the movie and all of the movies they play is for children.

Plus but not least, the dentist is sweet a kind and she has many assistants who are just like her! No wonder we have to wait 3 months to get an appointment with her!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Last weekend here in Canada we have a long weekend because on Monday was Victoria Day and my cousin Eliza also invited us to meet her in Seattle. So we left Vancouver in the morning but then we got stuck at the border for 2 hours! At the highway they have an electronic board telling people the waiting time at the border, my advice to you... don't trust that board! When we saw it, it says N/A, or Not Available, when we still trying to figure it out, it's too late, the line was at least a mile long and we got stuck since there cars on our rear. It also the same story when we return from Seattle to Vancouver. The electronic board on the other side says the waiting line is <5 minutes, or less than 5 minutes but then the end of the line is exactly under that electronic board which means, it's going to be another 2 hours there! This time we think fast and make a turn to Pacific Crossing, a different border, it definitely was not as bad as the one on I-5. We waited about half an hour.

La La is a very very sweet girl. She is so easy going, sleep a lot, and drink her milk regularly, but there is one thing she is not good at is when she has to sit in the car. I guess because she can't see my face. It's so touching when you know that you mean a world to your baby. You are her world! So I sit at the back with her and I am right, she is a happy baby as long as she can see me! She just smiles, laugh, giggle all the way to Seattle and back to Vancouver! I am still pinching myself on how lucky I am to have her! It's really like a dream comes true!

Alright, I will be brief. On our first day in Seattle we went to have lunch first at a restaurant near our hotel while waiting for Eliza to come back to the hotel because I told her to just go ahead to somewhere since I will be late due to border long waiting line and traffic jammed. Then we check in into our hotel room and rest a little. Soon enough Eliza and her family came to our room. We chatted a little, she also gave me her home made cookies while I totally forget to bring her tempeh that she requested 2 weeks before ....oops...

From hotel, we went to Japanese book store in Uwajimaya ( a big Japanese grocery store that also has a branch in Portland where I used to lived ). We spent a lot time there discussing and buying many recipe books! This is fun when 2 people who are both crazy about recipe books shop together! Plus, Richard was there and he help us in understanding some Chinese and Japanese recipe books since Japanese character is so similar to Chinese's. Okay, so I was wrong when I said 2 people, it should be 3 people who is crazy about cooking shopping for recipe books together. Eliza got baking books while I bought 3 Japanese recipe books, 1 Korean, and 3 Chinese. I would like to buy more, but this is the problem when your collection is already pretty extensive, it's getting harder and harder to find books that offer you something that you don't already have.

Then we just walk to the restaurant next door to have our dinner together. I order Sukiyaki and I ordered Korean Style Hot and Spicy Tuna Poke. Poke I think is a Hawaiian dish that usually using raw seafood that is marinated with most likely Asian seasoning like soy sauce etc. If you like sushi then you will definitely like poke, it's like sashimi but tastier since they put a lot of stuff in it like soy sauce, chilies, green onions, garlic, ginger and maybe more. One book I like that has poke recipe is written by Sam Choy, a legendary Hawaiian chefs. His recipe books are pretty good. I think I owned all of them. At one time when I use his BBQ recipe, my new neighbour back in Portland came out and asked us what is that heavenly smell that she smell, she is my good friend now.

That night La La fell asleep while we were still eating at that Japanese Restaurant. And when I put her to her crib that is being provided by the hotel, she just slept it through! Oh so sweet! She woke up the next morning just like at home, around 7 AM. She did not move or make any sounds at all that night.

On the second day in Seattle, we went to McDonald for breakfast and from there we went back again to the hotel for swimming. I did not swim off course since I have to take care of Lala and Eliza decided not to swim as well. So only the boys and their fathers swimmed together. They had a blast!

Then since today Eliza has to go back to Portland, she pack all of her belonging and we went straight to then we went to Children Museum.

Children museum is really a fun and educational place for children. Over there, children learn a lot about adult world but in miniature way. They have a place where children can play pretend with music studio recording.

Then they have a radio station too.A grocery store.A restaurant.

A theater where they can not only play dress up and then perform, but they also can be the one who change the drop and the lighting or add special effect sounds.

Japanese house, Philippine food store with their transportation, Chinese house, Africa house, and many many more. Even adult like us had lots of fun too!

Around 4 PM, Eliza, Nathan, and Sani said goodbye and they went home to Portland.

Kai Kai and Nathan saying goodbye to each other.

Now, it's just us!

Since we still have time until 6, we went to see Pacific Science Center. The last time we went to Seattle this is where we want to go but at that time for some reason they closed. I think if your kids is at least 7 yrs old, this is the right place for them to explore, and if your kid is around 5 yrs like my son, then I think they will love Children Museum better. But it doesn't mean that they can not have fun in here. It's just you need to explain it to them more. But some cool stuff doesn't need explanation at all. There is a room full of robotic dinosaurs in there for example. Then there is butterflies room where you really have to walk carefully so you won't by accident step on butterfly that is on the ground. And there is a aquarium where children can touch sea cucumber, anemone, etc. And there is a robot that can play tic-tack-toe with you. Pretty cool huh?

From there we went back to hotel because La La is tired and she already fell asleep. So we decide to just head back to our room. Since we are not going anywhere for dinner, I ordered room service for us. I told the man who is going to bring the food up to my room to be extra quiet. He did. So that night we had a feast in our room. I never order room service as much as that night because I did not know that the order is so large!

I ordered fetuccini alfredo with chicken, and bruschetta. Then for Richard I ordered him seafood salad and beer. Kai Kai wants pizza and milk.

It feels so special to order room service! Kai Kai enjoyed it very much, he never been allowed to eat on the bed before!

I am so amaze that La La can sleep on schedule in the hotel and wake up at normal time. I still remember when Kai Kai was 10 months old and we stayed at a hotel, he cried nonstop!

On the third day, we went downstair to have breakfast buffet style. I love buffet! Then I pack everything and we went to EMP. EMP owned by Paul Allen, you know... Bill Gates' partner... Last time we also did not have enough time to visit EMP so I make sure this time we did. It's a pretty cool place for music lovers. This place is amazingly informative about modern music industy. I learn more about different types of electric guitars on this visit that from anywhere else. On the third floor, they even have many recording studio for people who want to produce their own CD and just for the cost of $9.95 for the first CD! That is just amazingly cheap. Especially this is a really working recording studio.

Then there is DoubleTake From Monet to Lichtenstein. This is my first experience to be in the same room with so many magnificent paintings and photographs that I can only see on magazine or text book!

DoubleTake: From Monet to Lichtenstein explores this cultural phenomenon by pairing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings with works by leading 20th-century artists – all from the private collection of Paul Allen. These pairings include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works from masters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Dégas and Vincent van Gogh with modern and contemporary works from such artists as Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein.

The paintings that I saw are like these :

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La Liseuse - 1877

Paul Gauguin: Maternité [II] - 1899

Roy Lichtenstein: The Kiss - 1962

Jan Brueghel the Younger: The Five Senses: Sight - 1625

Pablo Picasso: Quatre Baigneuses - 1921

I mean.. come on... who has never seen these paintings in our text book or magazine perhaps??? And my face is only 10 cm away from these magnificent paintings!!!!

We spent 3 hours there, admiring everything and Kai Kai try all of the musical instruments in that recording place. I saw a Japanese man there, he played all of the instruments with great skills! It was a joy to see musician showing off his skill! He can play the drum really well, the electric guitar, the bass, the keyboard. Everything and he did it with such great skill! Man... I love to see talented people!!!

From EMP, we went home but we made a quick stop at the Outlet Mall because La La is getting restless and she wants us to push the stroller around so she can see things. She doesn't need us to carry her, she is okay with sitting on her stroller. While we were at the EMP she never awake. She just slept through it all.

At home, I just put her on her crib and she is soooo happy to be back to her bed! She kick kick kick, and waving her arms around, do the stretching with smilling and soon, she fell asleep. My precious little angel.

Going to Seattle is really fun, but what make it even better is spending our time together with Eliza, Sani, and Nathan. Family time ROCKS!

About Me

I am a wife and a mom first. I was married in 1998, then had a son in 2000 and a daughter in 2006.
Even though I am an Indonesian but my husband is a Taiwanese and we do have some friends who can only read in English so that is why I write my blog in English. And since English is not my first language, so my grammar is pretty messed up. I hope that won't lessen the fun of reading my blog .
I have several things that I am passionate about. First, I am very passionate about my family. I also love travelling, photography, books, and cooking. As you can see, I posted a lot of food photos in here. I also posted a lot of my family pictures in gardens or parks. I wish I can travel in more places so I can take you for a pictorial food and gardens tour from many countries. That is my dream !